WASHINGTON President Barack Obama convenes his first formal Cabinet meeting today and will ask department and agency chiefs to look for ways over the next 90 days to cut $100 million out of the federal budget, a senior administration official said.

Back from his fence-mending trip to Latin America and the Caribbean, Obama will be reminding the panel that American families are having to make tough financial decisions and need to know the government is spending their money wisely.

A second senior official, also speaking anonymously, said Obama will point to cuts already being proposed.

The Veterans Affairs Department has canceled or delayed 26 conferences, saving nearly $17.8 million, he noted, and will be using less expensive alternatives, like video conferencing.

The Agriculture Department is working to combine 1,500 employees from seven office locations into a single facility in 2011, saving $62 million over a 15-year lease term. And the Homeland Security Department has estimated it can save up to $52 million over five years by buying office supplies in bulk.

The federal deficit for March alone was $192.3 billion, and $100 million would represent about one-twentieth of 1 percent of that. Obama has brought forward a $3.6 trillion budget for the 2010 fiscal year, beginning Oct. 1, a proposal that would produce $9.3 trillion in deficits over the next decade.